What Comes Next
by shadowthief-wolf
Summary: The story of Wolf and Virginia as they adjust to life in New York
1. Where Do We Go Now?

I absolutely love the 10th Kingdom and haven't written in a long time so figured I'd pick it up again. This is the story of what happens after Virginia and Wolf come back to live in New York and picks up right where the movie lets off with them sitting on the bridge in central park.

Hope you enjoy and please leave a comment!

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Wolf couldn't take his eyes off of Virginia, his mate he mentally repeated, as she stared off into the trees. This was a fairytale for him, living in some mystical land he had only gotten a brief taste of with his mate and soon to be son after becoming a hero back home- never in his wildest dreams did he image his life turning out so wonderfully. He saw her try to stifle a yawn and was instantly off the edge of the bridge and standing behind her, a hand outstretched to help her down. "Shall we find somewhere to get some rest, my love?"

She chuckled at his antics and took his hand but stopped short. He resisted the urge to whine at the concerned look she gave him. "I have no idea where we can go."

"What about your home? I know the trolls messed it up a bit but that should be fine for tonight anyway."

"How do you know that?"

"Oh, well I went there. Followed yours and Wendell's scent to the building and found your father. He gave me the address of where to find you."

"He did what? How'd you get him to tell you that?"

Wolf whined, he hadn't meant to get her upset but now she looked frustrated. "I traded a magic dung bean for the information. It's how he was able to understand the dog I bet." He wilted under the look Virginia was giving him, "Anyway, we can find a nice place in the trees here, maybe play a bit of hide and seek." He pulled her close to him and grinned.

Virginia rolled her eyes and pushed him off, "We can't sleep in the park."

"Why not? I slept here last time. We've slept in the woods loads of times. What's one more time?"

"It's just- it's not something people do here. New York is different than the Nine Kingdoms." Wolf scratched his head confused as Virginia turned from him and began pacing, "and I bet Mr. Murray has already cleaned all our stuff out of the apartment by now. We've been gone for over a month..." She groaned running her fingers through her hair. "I bet I've lost my job and even if Mr. Murray hasn't already found someone else for the apartment yet, the only reason we had that place was because Dad was the super and my grandmother-"

Wolf cut her off, not wanting Virginia to become any more stressed. "Ah! We can go to your grandmother's, tell her I was only teasing, a joke between the two of us. Like I told you at the troll's castle, when I dashingly swung in and saved your life I might add," Virginia was rolling her eyes again but he saw the smile on her face, "I wasn't really going to eat her, she was a touch old bird." Virginia was about to speak again but he pressed forward. "If she still won't let me in then I can sleep in the hall while you get rested in a proper bed."

"But Wolf-"

"Don't you worry my dreamy cream puff, I was able to charm your grandmother once, I'm sure I will be able to do it again!" he said with his typical grandiose flourish. "Now after you, my lady."

They had arrived at her grandmother's building much sooner than Virginia would have liked. The entire walk there, she had tried to get Wolf to come up with some kind of plan but he had been overly confident in his own charm. She was just glad her grandmother had insisted on not calling the police for her own vanity's sake. She could still hear the shrill voice of her grandmother when she had proposed the idea. "Goodness no Virginia, you mustn't notify the police that I was fooled by some man and that he left me tied up in my kitchen! I'll become the laughing stock of the entire town!"

For Wolf's part, he had no idea what he was going to say and this time he didn't even have flowers to charm the old bird. He wished he had a bit of troll dust so he could just tie her up again (minus the threats to eat her, he was a changed man after all). Plus he was finding it hard to focus, with all the scents and new sights and his dreamy creamy girl walking just beside him, it was all incredible distracting. He was half startled when Virginia stopped in front of a door looking anxious.

Virginia knocked on the door and gestured for Wolf to stand off to the side. After a moment, Wolf could hear rustling inside.

"Who is it?"

"It's me Grandmother, Virginia." She smiled weakly at the door, hoping her grandmother didn't ask why she didn't let herself in with the key like usual.

"Just a moment." Virginia was surprised to hear more than one lock being undone before the door swung open. Her grandmother stood in the doorway in her nightgown and a cigarette, same as ever. "Virginia! It feels like it's been so long. No matter, I'm glad to see you haven't brought that wretched dog with you again."

"It's nice to see you too, Grandmother. I have something, or, rather I have someone I want you to meet, or I guess I should say re-meet."

"Oh! You have finally met a man?" Her grandmother clasped her hands together and was nearly bouncing with giddiness.

"Something like that," Virginia muttered.

Wolf took this as his cue and stepped out from around the corner, giving his best smile as he hooked an arm around Virginia's waist. "Hello! It's good to see you again." The old woman's face fell and a weak shriek past through her frail lips and reached for the door but Wolf was faster and stopped it. He had been expecting that kind of reaction

Virginia reached out, attempting to grab her grandmother's arm before she fled into the apartment. "Grandmother, please! Wait! This is my fiancé." That stopped her grandmother's shrieks as he eyes darted to Virginia's hand where a ring sat.

"Fiancé?"

Wolf jumped in, "Yes, yes. As I said last time we met, I am Virginia's betrothed. I'm terribly sorry for the trouble last time but you see it was all part of a- a game! Yes, a game! You see being heir to an enormous fortune can sometime leave you looking for something with, well, with more excitement." He was waving his arms around hoping that the gestures might distract her as he stumbled for what to say next. He could tell Virginia was staring at him but he kept his eyes fixed on the grandmother. "In the kingdom I'm from-"

"Kingdom?"

"Ah yes, he's-he's from one of those small, ummm, small countries. One of the ones from-from the Middle Eastern areas. You know, where there are sheiks and princes and his fortune is in oil." Virginia quickly said. She doubted her grandmother was going to believe any of it.

"Like royalty?"

"Yes, exactly. He is the son of someone very important there. That's where I've been these past few weeks." She couldn't believe that it was actually working.

It was Wolf's turn to stare. He had no idea what anything Virginia had just said meant but it seemed to have worked for her grandmother. And now he was royalty and he was going to start acting like it. He took a step forward and seized the old woman's hand. "In any case, we tend to play silly tricks there and I apologize for it getting out of hand. I meant it only to be a joke for Virginia and did not consider the fright it might have caused you. I hope you can accept my humblest of apologizes." He bent down as if he was bowing and placed a gentle kiss on her gnarled fingers.

She blushed, "Well, there was no harm but a little fright. Certainly a wealthy man such as yourself can make it up to an old woman like me. But please, both of you come in, come in. In the future though, no more games on me. I'm not as young as I use to be." Wolf couldn't image a time when the woman had ever been young as he followed Virginia into the bedroom. And you must tell me more about how you two met and this kingdom of yours."

Virginia and Wolf stepped in, both amazed that everything they said had worked. "Maybe in the morning, we are both really exhausted and just want to go to sleep." Virginia said, dragged Wolf determinedly toward a room.

"Oh, yes of course. In the morning then!"

Virginia shut the door and leaned against it. "I don't know how that worked."

"Ah Virginia, such an actress! First in the court room and now here, you have a talent for drama!"

"You weren't so bad yourself," she chuckled.

Wolf then grinned and stepped closer to her, pinning her to the door and took a deep breath. "Now I do believe last time we were in this place, I had you cornered just like this."

Virginia leaned closer so that Wolf felt her breath against his chin as she looked up at him, "And I do believe this is where I hit you in the balls and pushed you out the window." She ducked under his arm and laughed. "Now why don't you come over to the bed." Wolf was more than happy to comply.


	2. People Don't Have Tails

I'm so sorry for the mess up! I didn't realize it posted with the HTML codes. So here is most of what I could recover and I'm currently in the process of rewriting it!

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Virginia didn't want to open her eyes just yet, even though sleep was already fading fast. She was warm, comfortable and relaxed, things she hadn't felt in a while. She was about to nuzzle into the pillow to try and block out the already bright room when she felt something against her leg and bolted out of bed with a shriek.

"Virginia! What? What's wrong?" Wolf sat upright, his heart racing and his eyes scanning the room to find the reason behind Virginia's yell.

"Something's in the bed! it touched my leg."She yelled desperately, pointing at the mattress.

Wolf looked at her with confusion (and a bit of lust, she was standing in just her underwear after all) and pulled back the sheets, running is fingers across the linen threads for anything unusual. "The only thing in this bed is me." He said.

"No, I felt something! There has to be a bug or something. I felt it brush against my leg." She was certain about it. Virginia had had more than one experience waking up to a cockroach crawling over her skin when she and her dad had lived in less desirable apartments, their long hard bodies zigzagging up her legs and under her shirts.

Wolf started laughing, "For the savior of the nine kingdoms, I didn't think something so small could bother you so much. Come back to bed."

"No, not until you find whatever it is and get rid of it."

Wolf grinned and got off the bed, wearing nothing but his boxers. "It might be pretty hard to get rid of," he grabbed his tail, "It's sort of attached to me."

Virginia stared, "Your tail?" She had forgotten that he had a tail in her sleepiness.

"Well this is the first time we are sleeping together properly in a bed. I guess it can take a bit of getting use to in the morning." Wolf chuckled. Even after Virginia had awoken after defeating the queen, Wendell had insisted that Wolf have his own room. "She needs space," he had said and while Wolf had growled at him at the time, he was glad that the prince had steered him down the hall.

Virginia was shocked, "I guess it is."

Wolf circled the bed, suddenly frustrated with the distance between himself and his mate, and pulled her into his arms for a deep kiss. "Morning," he said as he pulled away, his voice rough.

"Good morning to you too." She ran her fingers down his back and stroked through the fur of his tail, marveling at how soft it felt and thinking of the first time she had touched it. She could feel him shiver slightly and let out a content breath as her fingers moved through the fur. "I guess I'm going to have to get use to waking up with your tail brushing against me."

He let out a soft purring sound, "Guess so."

She leaned and kissed him again, ending it sooner than he'd wanted and pulled away. Wolf whined at the sudden loss of physical contact. "Why don't you come back to bed?"

Virginia was already in the process of rummaging through her bag. "My grandmother is in the other room Wolf."

Wolf paused to listen for a second, "She's sound asleep and I promise I won't do anything too naughty."

The way he dragged out the "too" made Virginia doubt that. "The doors don't have locks." Wolf still stared. "Do you really want to risk my grandmother walking in on us?"

"Huff -puff, alright! You have a point."

Virginia succeeded in pulling out what she was looking for. Despite everything they had been through, her cell phone had survived the trip at the bottom of the bag and now she planned to call Mr. Murray. Better to take care of this now, she thought as she flipped open the phone and looked for the number. She turned to Wolf as she heard the phone ringing, "Now be quiet for a bit while I make this call."

Wolf shrugged and leaned back against the bed, listening everything around him. He could hear the sound of another person's voice through the little box she was talking into and remembered seeing other people with them when he had first been here. He made a note to ask her how it worked later.

"For the third time no Mr. Murray, I haven't seen my father...Yes, Mr. Murray...Thank you Mr. Murray. We'll be there later. And I promise I'll tell Dad... Bye."Virginia hung up the phone, "You'll never believe this but Mr. Murray said the apartment is still waiting for us and it's even fixed up."

Wolf shrugged from his spot on the bed. The magic dung bean he had given Tony probably had something to do with that. "After everything we've been through? I think you are underestimating my ability to believe." He was struggling to keep himself from dragging Virginia back under the covers with him. Virginia had already warned him about the grandmother who was just in the other room after all and the last thing either of them wanted was for her to come in and interrupt them.

Instead he moved behind Virginia and pulled her against his chest, taking deep breaths of her scent and simply enjoying her closeness. With everything that had happened in the kingdoms, they hadn't had much time alone. Also he hadn't noticed it the first time he had come to the apartment, but the whole place smelled of smoke and something stale (Virginia had told him it was moth balls when he had complained but he didn't entirely know what that meant) and her delicious scent was like a welcome breath of fresh air. "But see, you had nothing to worry about."

Virginia snorted and pushed away from Wolf to start getting ready to leave. She wanted to get out of the apartment before her grandmother woke looking more information on her wealthy fiancé. "We have plenty to worry about still, like finding a job and getting you use to living in New York."

"No worries my dreamy creamy mate! I managed to do just fine on my own here last time and you managed in my world. How hard can it be?"

She rolled her eyes. "There are a lot of differences between here and the nine kingdoms."

"Like what?"

"Like electricity."

"The thing that makes light without candles?"

Virginia couldn't help but laugh, "Along with doing other things."

"See, this won't be so hard. " He decided to wait to ask her about the talking box for now.

She tossed him his pants as she pulled on her boots. He turned around to pull them up and she noticed his tail as it wagged lazily. "For another thing, people don't have tails."

Wolf chuckled, "which is why you were so surprised by mine?" He thought of the moment on the beanstalk as he finished buttoning his pants. The moment had simply embarrassing for him since his tail had slipped out while he was climbing without him noticing and like he had said then, people don't like wolves. It was better to keep a low profile. But if in her world it wasn't normal at all...he was amazed she hadn't pulled away from him in terror right then and there. Instead she had just been curious. He ran double checked to ensure his tail wasn't visible. "I guess it's a good thing I have practice keeping it hidden." He smiled warmly at her but she adverted her own eyes.

"You'll have to when we are outside…" she hesitated, a wave of guilt crashing over her. She hadn't considered that Wolf would have to hide his wolfish nature. She wondered if it was uncomfortable for him to have his tail hidden away. "But when we are in the apartment you don't have to. Does it bother you to keep it tucked away like that all the time?"

His heart quickened, oh how he loved his sweet gentle considerate Virginia. He pulled her into a hug and kept his arm around her waist. "Don't worry about it. I don't mind keeping my tail out of sight and it doesn't both me at all." He had spent his entire life hiding it and being told to keep it hidden after all and it was the very least he could do to make her happy and able to stay in her world. Wolf leaned in and kissed her before pulling back and looking into her eyes. "I prefer keeping aspects of my wolfish half more private. That includes not exposing my tail constantly. All that matters is that I am with you." He then pulled away and marched over to the door. "So shall we get going? I am absolutely ravenous."

She laughed and followed him out of the apartment and down the stairs. They crossed through the lobby, his arm secured around her waist as they went and out the doors of the apartment. Immediately, Wolf was assaulted by all the smells and sounds of the city. "Maybe there are some things I need to adjust to."


End file.
